Diana Elder

About Diana Elder

Diana Elder AGⓇ AGL is a professional genealogist, author, and speaker. She is accredited in the Gulf South region of the United States through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). Diana graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Elementary Education and has turned her passion for teaching to educating teens and adults in proven genealogy techniques. Diana is the author of Research Like a Pro: A Genealogists Guide and creator of the “Research Like a Pro” study group. She writes regular articles for FamilyLocket.com, the genealogy website created by her daughter, Nicole Dyer. She presents regularly at genealogy conferences, sharing the methods she uses every day to solve challenging genealogical problems.

Back to the Basics with Naturalization Records: Part 2

Jul 11, 2020

Naturalization records are important sources to explore for information on our immigrant ancestors – especially those who arrived in the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s. If we want to discover the home country or village, a naturalization record could help to make connections between our ancestor and the family left behind. Part 1 of this series discussed why we want to seek out naturalization records, detailed the process of naturalization, and gave...

Effectively Adding a Source to your Ancestry Tree

Jul 3, 2020

As you discover new sources for an ancestor, do you add them to your online Ancestry tree? How do you create a source citation for that source and what notes should you include? With so many genealogists using Ancestry’s tree building and hinting capabilities, our added source may end up being multiplied and added to other trees. If we document our source well, another researcher will be able to retrace our footsteps and find the...

Disproving a Hypothesis and Moving the Research Forward

Jun 25, 2020

What do you do when your research hypothesis is disproved? Perhaps the discovery of a new record, lack of DNA evidence, or even discovering another person of a similar name could lead to your proposed ancestor turning out to be incorrect. Do you give up or use the findings as an opportunity to move forward with a new avenue of research? The silver lining in this scenario can emerge with a reexamination of the research...

Online Genealogies: Discovering the Source

Jun 18, 2020

Have you ever seen a complete date and place for an ancestor’s birth, death, or marriage, but no source is attached as proof? Have you wondered where that information originated? With the proliferation of online trees and copying of data, tracing a genealogy fact back to an original posting can help verify or disprove it. Two websites can be explored to find complete family tree submissions: Rootsweb and FamilySearch Genealogies. Rootsweb When Nicole and I...

Peeling Back the Layers: Online Source Citations Part 3

Jun 10, 2020

Do you use MyHeritage or Findmypast in your research? Have you wondered how to create a layered source citation from one of these websites? In this final article of this series, I’ll once again give you examples of using the basic citation elements of who, what, when, where, and wherein to create citations that reflect both the digital and physical source information. Links to the first two articles about creating citations for FamilySearch and Ancestry...

Peeling Back the Layers: Online Source Citations Part 2

Jun 4, 2020

Creating source citations from online materials can be confusing and vary from website to website. In Part 1 of this series, we looked at a source document hosted on Ancestry. I showed the process I use to create a citation that includes the basic citation elements of who, what, when, where, and wherein. This article will focus on citing sources found on FamilySearch – those indexed and not indexed. Citation for a Record Indexed on...

Peeling Back the Layers: Online Source Citations Part 1

May 28, 2020

Have you wondered how to create a source citation for a record found on a website like FamilySearch or Ancestry? With the majority of our research now done online, understanding the basics of citation can help us accurately cite our sources and create a path back to the original source. In this three-part series we’ll look at different examples that illustrate the principles needed to construct a citation for a source from any website. First...

Learning to Research in a New Country

May 21, 2020

Have you been dragging your feet when it comes to researching your ancestors in a different country? Reading historical documents can be difficult and is only compounded when another language is involved. Perhaps the records are confusing and the jurisdictions are different. Sooner or later you’ll need to tackle a new research locality, so let’s explore two excellent websites that can take the pain out of the learning: The FamilySearch Research Wiki and The Family...

4 Tips for Transcribing a Multi-Page Document File in Google Docs

May 13, 2020

When you discover a lengthy file for an ancestor, how do you deal with the many pages it may contain and the information it holds? Do you transcribe it? Create an abstract? What if you can’t read some of the handwriting? Four tips can get you started in working with original documents. Transcription or Abstract – What’s the Difference? You may have heard the terms abstract or transcription in regards to genealogy and wondered about...

Honoring our Great-Grandmothers by Researching Their Stories: Eliza Ann Isenhour, Settler of Indian Territory

May 8, 2020

Can we tell the story of our great-grandmothers when few records naming them exist? What sources can we use to weave a narrative that will draw us closer to them as well as honor their contributions? My great, great-grandmother, Eliza Ann Isenhour died in Indian Territory at the age of 48. According to family stories, she was full-blooded Cherokee. I wanted to know more about this woman whose DNA I carry. Researching her story revealed...